lead me astray
by keem
Summary: Kurosaki looks as though he's about to say something, perhaps about shielding Inoue from the brutality of war - but then he sees the effect Ulquiorra's ruined body has on her and his gaze softens considerably. drabble. Vague spoilers for ch 344. R


**lead me astray**

Kurosaki has gotten stronger since their first encounter, but still Ulquiorra remains unafraid. Some of the other Espada are held back by their more basic human emotions, but the Cuatro Espada is not one of them. The only thing on his mind is his objective, and the will - the necessity - to carry it out. Failure is not an option: Aizen has entrusted Las Noches to Ulquiorra, and the dark-haired warrior fully intends to implement brutality in order to keep the sanctity of his home intact. Kurosaki is vermin, and Ulquiorra can not - _will_ not - lose.

Inoue now watches from the sidelines, after having been coaxed into doing so. The Quincy is with her, both to protect her and to discourage her from changing her mind and taking matters into her own hands. Ulquiorra approves of this - the girl had proved to be an increasing distraction throughout the duration of her captivity in Hueco Mundo, but for the first half of the fight she had transcended beyond that point- she had become a _liability_. Now that Ulquiorra doesn't have to worry about her intervening on Kurosaki's behalf (now that she's _safe_), he doesn't have to hold back. They take their fight to the roof, and the Quincy makes it so that Inoue cannot follow.

Night has fallen in Los Noches, and the sickle-shaped moon hangs high overhead. Inoue is no where in sight, and Ulquiorra is inwardly relieved. He doesn't have the time to reflect on this notion (relief - when has he ever felt relief, felt anything at all?) because the foremost thing in his mind right now is the battle at hand. When Kurosaki speaks, his voice sounds distorted and eerie, like he's drowning.

"Is this... the dome above Las Noches?"

"That's right," Ulquiorra says as he lithely steps down onto the roof. "Espadas above Cuatro are forbidden to unleash their power within the dome." He's not bragging here - it's merely a statement of fact. Ichigo seems a little wary, as though deliberating something. Ulquiorra can't wait a moment later - this needs to be ended, and quickly.

"Bind!"

He can feel the electric arch of energy like white-hot fire in his veins, the power surge that comes from releasing one's sword. His body sways and arches against it, his eyes falling closed as he gives into the transformation, lets himself get swept up in the hurricane of it -

- And suddenly he's face down on the smooth white surface of the dome, drenched in a pool of his own blood.

_What... happened...?_

Kurosaki's face emerges as he pulls back the mask. He's wearing a grim expression, as though he's just accomplished an extremely unsavory task. And he just has - Ulquiorra's well aware of the younger boy's aversion to killing. The Cuatro Espada knows that he's never taken a life before - Ulquiorra will have the pleasure of being his first.

_He cut me down before I even had a chance to finish transforming... he really _has _gotten stronger..._

"Ulquiorra!"

His ears feel as though they have been stuffed with cotton, but there is no mistaking that voice. His vision wavers as Orihime bursts onto the scene, the Quincy in hot pursuit. The Quincy looks alarmed at first, and then impressed beyond his will. Kurosaki looks as though he's about to say something, perhaps about shielding Inoue from the brutality of war- but then he sees the effect Ulquiorra's ruined body has on her and his gaze softens considerably.

"Ulquiorra!" she says again, falling down her knees beside him. Ulquiorra sees the barrette in her hair begin to glow, and he knows immediately what it means -he's seen it a million times before. But what he still doesn't understand is _why_. Why would she want to heal him? Doesn't she know that he will just get up again, and destroy Kurosaki where he stands? Doesn't she understand that he has an obligation to fulfill, a duty to carry out? Kurosaki is the enemy, and Ulquiorra has been given the task of eliminating him. Ulquiorra is Inoue's enemy - it is not in her self-interest to help him recover. It doesn't make any sense.

"Don't." Inoue startles at the sound of Kurosaki's voice; she twists around to stare back at him with watery, wide eyes.

"You can't save him, Inoue. It's too dangerous."

"But I - "

"Orihime, Ichigo's right. We have to leave him be," the Quincy says, his expression grave. He crouches down, rests his hand on her shoulder. "You can't heal him."

Inoue looks between the two of them, horrified. Ulquiorra is not hurt, or angry, that they are voicing their intentions in his presence. They are being pragmatic, practical, and Ulquiorra does not judge. He never has; he doesn't know _how_ to. He simply processes the bland, yeastless factuality of their words: He's going to die.

Inoue looks vaguely disoriented, as though she is shaking free the fragments of some sort of illusion. When she stares up into the hard faces of her companions, Ulquiorra immediately understands that a rift is forming between them: something has been irrevocably altered, and Ulquiorra is at the root of it. There is no immediate satisfaction in learning this, but when Inoue shakes her head in disbelief Ulquiorra feels a pang of something that has nothing to do with the mortal wound he has been inflicted with.

_What... is this feeling...?_

"So what do we do?" She asks the others in a feeble voice.

"We leave him," Kurosaki says, and he takes Inoue by the arm. "We need to go, Orihime." The Quincy nods, turns, and begins to lead the way. Kurosaki starts after him, and Inoue is dragged limply along. She glances back at him, searches his face with one haunting look, and something in Ulquiorra finally breaks.

"You cannot take her."

Kurosaki pauses at the forcefulness in Ulquiorra's voice, and turns around. Inoue looks startled, like a frightened bird on the verge of taking flight. The Quincy is the last to grant him an audience - and the look he gives him is one of superior disdain.. Kurosaki has pity in his eyes - and that's what enrages Ulquiorra most of all.

"I won't let you have her. She is to stay here with me," Ulquiorra says again, his voice ringing with authority despite the severity of his wounds. He attempts to drag himself up to his feet, but his lower legs won't comply. He does not feel anything below the waist. He doesn't know what prompts him to make the command - why he feels it so necessary for her to remain her with him, just that it _is_.

"Ulquiorra, you've been nearly severed in half," Kurosaki says grimly. "If you stand up, all your insides are going to fall out. Take it easy."

_"I won't let you have her!"_

Inoue jumps, the Quincy looks surprised, and even Kurosaki takes an involuntary step back. Ulquiorra has never raised his voice before, and he finds himself consumed with a kind of cold fury - intermixed with something else, something more alien and acute and wrenchingly painful

"Ulquiorra, you're going to die," Kurosaki says in a distant monotone, as though he has heard this somewhere before. "Just close your eyes and try to think of happier times, and hopefully you'll live a little longer."

He wants to fight Kurosaki, to kick and bite him and spit him and curse his name. He wants Inoue to defy them, to _stay_ with him, to go against the natural order of things and heal Ulquiorra. Not so that he can fight Kurosaki in order to maintain the peace of Los Noches, but to brutalize the younger boy for more selfish, wanton purposes. And that's when he realizes it - oh. _Oh_.

_I've been so foolish. This whole time, and it's been staring me right in the face. I...._

His mind wont let him process the rest of it. It is, after all, only a vague concept in his head, something that he's never experienced before now. Ulquiorra has never been hindered by his emotions before this awful moment. "Don't go," he tells her weakly. He's practically pleading. Ulquiorra has never felt desperation before, but he thinks it might have the same bite that this new, strange feeling has.

Inoue bites her lip, and for one brief moment Ulquiorra thinks that she might do it, that she might actually turn against he has a surge of - _is it hope? Is it elation? Is it love? _but then she shakes her head. She looks to her other two companions fearfully, perhaps wondering if they saw that sliver of defiance flicker across her face in the way that Ulquiorra had.

"It's time to go, Inoue."

Inoue nods, and Ulquiorra immediately understands that it's useless to reason with her. She's made up her mind, and he has nothing to offer anyway. He isn't even sure what has come over him - why he felt the need to call out her to the way that he did, just that he _had_, in a momentary lapse in sanity. _I love her._ He watches her go, watches that familiar sway of those generous hips, the fall of autumn colored hair. There is a bitter taste in his mouth, and an uncomfortable coil in his stomach, and Ulquiorra immediately registers the unfamiliar sensation of regret.


End file.
